Traveling

It’s been a while again! The last few weeks I’ve had some other things on my mind and writing here hasn’t really been a priority. However, being creative, taking cool photos and inspiring others are things that make me happy so I’m trying to start posting here more regularly again. I’m hoping that more good things are coming my way soon and there will be more things to write about. Also, during the last few weeks I haven’t really done anything special but hopefully the arriving summer will change that too.

Anyway, last month I spent one Saturday doing the Bondi to Coogee walk with my boyfriend and friend. I thought that after living here for over half a year it would be time to visit the world famous beach. Now that the weather is still a bit cooler it wasn’t going to be too busy either.

Even though I don’t see myself spending a day on Bondi beach with tens of thousand of other people in the summer, I understand why the beach is so famous, and why so many people want to live in Bondi despite the high cost. There definitely is a vibe that you can sense once you get to Bondi, and the lifestyle is visibly more relaxed compared to other parts of Sydney. You’ll see people carrying their surf boards down to the beach, people walking on the street in their swimsuits and lots of happy dogs on walks with their humans.

The walk from Bondi to Coogee (or the other way around) is about six kilometres long and on average takes about two hours. There are numerous smaller beaches on the way, and so many beautiful multimillion properties that take your breath away. But what I enjoy the most is staring at the horizon and breathing the fresh ocean air.

Looking at these photos again makes me so excited about the summer! I really wish that in the next couple years we’ll be able to live close to a beach and go on daily walks by the ocean.

I’ve been thinking for a long time that I could write about relationship stuff. First about long distance relationship and how to make it work. Then about the end of a long distance relationship. But then I thought why not to make it a bit funnier. So I’m writing about the life of a bilingual couple. Because often times the everyday life of a bilingual couple can be quite hilarious.

Coming up with my own words

Have you ever heard of screepers? No wonder you haven’t because they don’t exist. But to me the word means wind screen wipers. This is the latest word I’ve come up with when I’ve had a very basic conversation with my boyfriend. He of course had no idea what I was talking about but I was very convinced I was using the right term.

Making my own translations

You know, for example some Finnish idioms that apparently don’t work in English. “There must be a dog buried here.” The same goes the other way too, I never have any idea what’s going on when my boyfriend uses an idiom. The other thing is when I decide to just not change the word order when I translate something in English. Or when I pronounce something with a surprisingly strong Finnish accent and make no sense at all.

Sleep talking

Just randomly starting to speak Finnish to my boyfriend when I’m just about to fall asleep or being super sleepy. I remember doing this quite a lot when I visited him in Canada over a year ago and was super jet lagged.

Too tired to go through the trouble of translating

Very common when we’re watching a movie in the evenings and something exciting or unexpected happens. I feel like commenting on it but at the time I’ve come up with a comment in English it’s already way too late. So better to just stay quiet.

Explaining something very complicated

You know when you’ve read about something very complicated and exciting and you want to talk about it? For example something that has happened in the world politics or a new medical innovation. And then you try to tell someone about what you’ve read and completely forget all the terms. And neither you nor your partner have any idea what you’re talking about.

Saying “See you later!” to everyone

A completely normal thing to say in Australia. But when we were traveling last year around Europe with my boyfriend I had to stop him from saying this to everyone. Just because if you say that to randoms, especially in Finland, people get weirded out. Like when is later? Do I really see you? Where?

Despite all these things I think we’re going strong. The most difficult part of being a bilingual couple is of course the humour, since it can be very characteristic to one country or culture and very strange to the other. But still, I think we have managed to create our own language since my boyfriend seems to understand me better and better even though I make less and less effort to ensure my English is “perfect”.

Once again I have to say that there’s nothing as healing as a walk in nature. Enjoying fresh air, silence and good views is always the best way to unwind! Today we visited Royal National Park which is located about an hour south of Sydney and is known for its beautiful views and unique rock formations.

There are numerous tracks to choose from in Royal National Park and the most popular one is the Coast Walk. It’s actually almost 30 kilometers long but it’s possible to do in sections. Today we started our walk from Bundeena and first walked to the famous Wedding Cake Rock and then down to Marley Beach. The whole thing was about 9 kilometers and took us 3 hours with various breaks.

The best things today besides the good views and company were the perfect weather and hot chocolate in thermo flask. Winter really is making its way here and must say I’m not ready for it! But as long as it’s still sunny on most of the days, I guess I’ll be fine.

Since it was such a beautiful weather today, we decided to take a ferry to Sydney Harbour. The one hour ferry-ride was basically all about beautiful views and huge mansions by the water. People actually use the ferry to commute to work here which is so cool!

The main reason why we wanted to go to the harbour was to have Sunday pancakes at Pancakes on the Rocks. They were super nice, but oh god, never again! Especially not in the morning, and not two huge pancakes each with all those toppings 😀

We got home a couple hours ago and haven’t left the couch ever since. Australian sun is seriously draining! Lucky it’s Sunday, and we have no other plans besides making pizza and watching The Sinner on Netflix. Anyway, here are some photos from the ferry ride today! And me with the Opera House haha!

I’m just sitting on the most comfortable couch ever, drinking matcha latte and writing this post (after a couple week’s radio silence, oopsie). I’m really starting to settle in here!

During the first two weeks here we’ve tried to make our home as nice and homely as possible. And I think we’ve done a pretty good job, can’t wait to show the results! It’s a little bit ironic, that I moved here on the other side of the world and can’t get enough of Ikea here! 😀

I really like the area where we live in, because we have a huge park and a river walk next to us. The park makes the area a bit more quiet, which I like, but then again there’s a lot going on in the park everyday, for example basketball and cricket. This morning I went for a long walk by the water. First you get a big apartment building village and then huge beautiful mansions by the water, so I think I’ll definitely enjoy running here.

There’s also lots of wildlife everywhere. Or at least I think so as a Finn, because there’s no wildlife, whatsoever, in the Finnish cities during winters. For example birdies are singing all the time here. Or some of them are singing and some of them seem to just have a screaming contest going on, especially around five in the morning. I’ve made friends with two huge garden spiders that just hang in the tree I have to walk under when I’m walking down to the water. I’ve never seen spiders that big before, and I think they are nowhere near the biggest spiders in Australia haha.

Last weekend we visited my boyfriends family in Newcastle and spent a few hours on a beach in Fingal Bay. We also walked around Newcastle a little bit, and oh my the beachfront there is just stunningly beautiful! Even though it was a big struggle to find a place that served food on a Saturday afternoon (and we both got super hangry haha), I would really want to live there someday. Such a nice and relaxed small city where almost everything seems to be in a walking distance.

Although I’m really happy I’m finally here, not everything has been perfect. I’m on a working holiday visa, and seeking decent office jobs on it seems to be almost impossible. The thing is, that you can only work 6 months for one employer. And even though there are lots of temp jobs available, WHV seems to still be an issue for lots of employers. It’s super frustrating and I’ve already had a go at a couple of recruitment agents. And no, i don’t just sit here and wait for them to get back to me, I actually call them to follow up, but most of them just couldn’t be more obvious about wanting to end the conversation as soon as possible. But I know I have to work on my attitude, I’ve only been here for two weeks and I probably should be more patient.

Finns are also entitled to enroll to Medicare, which is a little bit similar to KELA in Finland. On their webpage they say that you’re only entitled to the benefits once you’ve enrolled. Well, I thought that I don’t need medical care during my first week here and postponed it to the second week. And voilà, I needed to see a doctor on Saturday, and of course pay for the whole thing by myself. And it wasn’t exactly the cheapest option to go see a private practitioner on Saturday. But then, luckily, on Monday when I went to a Medicare Center, it turned out they don’t tell the whole truth on their website, and I got to claim my benefits afterwards by showing them my tax invoice.

Other than that, there hasn’t been any other major hardships. Besides coming home to a leaking toilet last weekend (which we fixed quite easily after all) and 3 huge cockroaches that we’ve come across in the apartment so far. 😀

Today is my day off from getting frustrated at recruitment companies and soon I’ll start making some dinner. I’ll try to come back with some photos of our apartment as soon as possible after everything is finished! 🙂

This Monday was started with an anti-bloat green smoothie and a run by the river in sunshine. There’s something magical about every Monday because each of them can feel like a new fresh start. A fresh start that is especially welcome if you’ve spent Sunday celebrating a birthday by eating cake and having drinks.

Yesterday it was my little sister’s 22nd birthday. It’s not too often that we get to celebrate birthdays together, so we tried to make the best of this one. We started the day with champagne, prosecco gummy bears and meringue cake. I think a sweeter and a yummier breakfast doesn’t exist. After recovering from the sugar rush, we were headed to a near by hotel which has a super nice bar downstairs. The place is one of my favorites around here, thanks to it’s beautiful decor and big windows. In addition, it was sunny and 11 degrees yesterday, which made us feel like spring is finally making its way here. So all in all, quite a perfect day. I can’t even remember when was the last time I’ve laughed as much as yesterday.

Like Mondays, springs too are somehow very magical. It’s the best feeling when days are getting longer, sunnier and warmer, and people around us happier. Maybe it’s the change, or the hope for better, or just the energy that sunshine gives us. Or maybe we just are more present ourselves when we see the nature changing around us.